Texas Border Business
McAllen, Texas – Eighteen Valley children and their families gathered Saturday night at the Art Village on Main Event Center in McAllen, all hoping to win a week-long vacation at Cherokee Park Ranch in Livermore, Colorado or Western Pleasure Guest Ranch in Sandpoint, Idaho. This was the third year in a row that the RGV Children’s Arts Festival has awarded two dude ranch family vacations.
Marissa Cano, South Texas Regional Director for BCFS Health and Human Services, came prepared to open the envelopes and announce the winners. As she opened the envelope to announce the winner of the kindergarten through third-grade division, one could almost hear the hearts of the young finalists thumping with anticipation.
The 2018 RGV Children’s Arts Festival winner of a week at Cherokee Park Ranch in Livermore, Colorado is Leah Leal, 8.
Eight-year-old Leah is the daughter of Ricardo and Diana Leal of Brownsville. She attends St. Luke’s Catholic School. The Leal family will ride horses on 300 acres in the Colorado Rockies for a week this summer at elevations of 7200 feet. Leal’s winning art and writing can be seen at www.KidsTalkAboutGod.org/rgv.
The Leal family will be stepping into history during their week at Cherokee Park Ranch. During the late 1880s, it was a colorful stagecoach stop between Ft. Collins, Colorado and Laramie, Wyoming. Guests often talked about Indian confrontations and the rates were only eight dollars per week!
For the announcement of the second winner in the fourth through sixth-grade division, arts festival co-founder Carey Kinsolving once again turned to Marissa Cano. “The 2018 RGV Children’s Arts Festival winner of a week at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch in Sandpoint, Idaho is Sophia Villarreal.”
Roley and Janice Schoonover will host Villarreal along with her father and mother. Their roots on the ranch run deep. Janice Schoonover’s grandfather, Riley Wood, bought the northern Idaho ranch in 1940. It must be a happy place for horses because a new foal was born Monday and four more foals are expected to arrive in May.
Marissa Cano, regional director of BCFS Health and Human Services, announced both winners of the RGV Children’s Arts Festival on Saturday, April 28 at the Art Village on Main Event Center in McAllen. Winners are Leah Leal, 8, (left) and Sophia Villarreal, 10. Leal won a week’s vacation for her family at Cherokee Park Ranch in Livermore, Colorado. Villarreal will ride in northern Idaho for a week at Western Pleasure Guest Ranch in Sandpoint, Idaho.
Sophia Villarreal, 10, is the daughter of Robert and Angela Villarreal of Harlingen. She is a student at St. Alban’s Episcopal Day School.
Artist Yoli Cantu of McAllen Stained Glass donated four scholarships to each winner for a class in designing and making fused glass art.
In addition to winning dude ranch vacations for their families, Leal and Villarreal won checks for $600 each to help pay for travel to Idaho and Colorado. All 18 finalists received a card that allows them to get a free Dairy Queen Blizzard for every week of the year. Finalists also received passes for four people to enjoy a Dolphin Watch or Eco Tour cruise courtesy of Breakaway Cruises at South Padre Island.
Gold spur sponsors of the arts festival include Burns Motors, BCFS Health & Human Services, La Copa Inn of South Padre Island, Boggus Ford, pediatrician Dr. Martin Garza, El Pato, Dairy Queen, Lone Star National Bank and Melba’s Dance School. Children ages 5-12 who live or attend school in the Rio Grande Valley are eligible. Vacation prizes for next year’s festival are now being sought. For more info, visit KidsTalkAboutGod.org/rgv.
